May Maiko Week 2017 Day 4: Thunder
by Cell 151
Summary: A slightly late entry for Maiko Week Mai is awaken in the night by the distant sound of thunder and she finds she's not the only one awake.


The Delicate Sound of Thunder

The distant rumble of thunder awoke Mai from her slumber. She gently sat up in bed as not to disturb her husband next to her. Adjusting her eyes to the darkness she could see Zuko lying on his stomach, his face buried in the pillow, his long unkempt hair obscuring most of his face except his scarred eye and cheek. His arm was hooked around her abdomen and both were bare of clothes. Mai smiled, enjoying the feel of his skin on hers. She didn't know what time it was but it couldn't have been long after they put Izumi, tuckered out from a long day of playing on the beach with Kiyi and Tom-Tom, to bed. After bidding goodnight to Ursa and Ikem the couple had made their way upstairs with a sleepy Izumi in Mai's arms. Mai knew exactly where the evening was heading when she felt Zuko's hand on her lower back. That made her exchange a knowing look with her husband. Sometimes he would be bold and cheeky to place his hand on her behind. With Izumi tucked in the bed the royal couple retired to their room, made love, and then quickly washed up before going to sleep.

Mai gently brushed back Zuko's hair to plant soft kisses to his cheek while one of her hands slowly moved under the sheet and down his back. As she was awake she didn't mind another round.

There was a sudden flash of light followed moments later by a very low rumble.

She looked out towards the giant bay windows at the source of the sound. Outside was complete darkness, there was no moon tonight. Far out at sea there was a flash of lightning that for a few moments illuminated the giant storm clouds and the rolling waves. Then it was dark again and moments later came another rumble of thunder. Mai countered the time between the flash and the accompanying, a habit that started when she was young and her mother had taught her the trick of telling if storms were getting close or moving away.

Mai waited. Again came another flash, this one longer then before. She could even see the sand and rocks just outside the window. She timed the sound of the thunder and it was same amount of time as the last one.

'Too early to tell,' she thought.

Mai and Zuko's getaway to Ember Island had long been planned and subsequently delayed to various issues both foreign and domestic. It came to a point that all Zuko had to do was walk in with a frown on his face, hands in his pockets and emitting a long sigh for Mai to know that they headed to Ember Island anytime soon. They wisely decided to tell Izumi of any upcoming vacation plans as not to disappoint her when said plans fell apart. One of the first things they learned as parents was that as soon as Izumi was born she would have both of them wrapped around her finger and all it took was a smile or most times a pout.

So when finally time opened for a getaway, thanks in part to both Zuko and Mai up long nights to shift stacks of paperwork, their five-year old daughter was more then excited to be go beyond the walls of the palace and spend three weeks with her grandmother, grandfather and aunt at their home, which was the summer home for the royal family and briefly a hiding place for Team Avatar.

After the group's brief stay the house fell into despair, not helped by a powerful storm that hit the island three years after the fall of Ozai and Zuko's acension to the throne. Zuko and Mai were in for a surprise when they arrived at the residence for their honeymoon only to find the house in a sad state. There was extension water damage, windows blown out, animals in some of the rooms, the plants in the garden dead. It was awkward for Zuko to explain to Mai the presence of scorch marks in the second floor hallway.

Zuko immediately ordered a full renovation of the residence. It wasn't difficult since the architectural plans were available in the archives and a lot of the more valuable objects had long since been removed, even before Team Avatar took up lodging there, so nothing of great importance was lost as a result of the storm. To oversee the renovation Ursa decided that she and her family would move into the summer home and make that their home. Zuko had no objections since he knew that his mother was still uneasy to living in the palace again. Having learned of her past in theater Zuko pulled some strings to make Ursa and Ikem the directors of the Ember Island Players, which wasn't hard. In fact when Zuko walked into the previous director's office and told him his proposal the man readily agreed, quite happy in fact. When Zuko asked in a letter a month later how the workshops were going with the actors Ursa sent back a short reply: 'A lot of work is needed.'

As Mai waited for the next flash she heard another sound. Her attention was drawn to the bedroom door and away from the storm far out at sea. She listened and heard the sound, a little louder. She instantly knew what it was and was out of bed and pulling on some clothes. Something else that comes with being a new parent were being acquainted with the sounds made by one's child. Night terrors were a prominent one and Mai could definitely hear the sounds of whimpering from the other room.

She pulled on her robe and stepped out into the corridor. At the far end was a lamp set on a low setting but it still managed to cast some light on the tall figure just outside Izumi's room. But this was not a intruder but rather Hiromi one of the guards whose sole job was to look after Izumi. Although he was 6'4", well trained and had an impressive military career Hiromi was very a gentle soul, no doubt helped the fact that he was a family man himself. Whenever the royal family traveled, particularly abroad, he was Izumi's security detail, babysitter, and playmate.

Hiromi looked up to see the Firelady enter the corridor. He turned back to the door, gently opened it and entered. By the time Mai reached the door he was exiting. "Room clear ma'am."

Mai softly thanked him and entered the room. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the little shape that was wrapped in blankets on the bed. Mai approached the bed and sat down.

"Zoomy? Its alright. I'm here," said Mai softly. She could hear sniffling underneath the blankets and it broke her heart. While she had been rather grumpy throughout her pregnancy due to the effect it had on her body and her mood, once Izumi had been born both her and Zuko had instantly fallen in love with their daughter. They both became increasingly protective as well. While the New Ozai Society was no more there was always the possibility of a security risk. Mai hoped that in the future Izumi would have the opportunity to be independent and get to do the things for which she was passionate about before the eventual day she would take on the role of Firelord. She and Zuko had spent nights discussing how unfair it was to put such a responsibility on a child so they decided they would hold off on explaining to Izumi her future duties. At least for a while.

Mai reached over and gently pulled back the covers. Underneath Izumi was huddled up and clinging to her stuffed penguin, a gift from Katara that quickly became her favorite toy. Mai could see Izumi's cheeks were wet and her small frame was shaking.

"Zoom its alright," she said softly, leaning down to kiss Izumi's forehead and to wipe away her tears. "Its only thunder. You know it can't hurt you." She brushed back Izumi's hair from her face.

"I know," said Izumi in a soft trembling voice. "Its not the thunder I'm scared of."

Mai knew exactly what she was referring to.

It was two years ago that Izumi met her aunt Azula.

The incident happened late night and she didn't know exactly what alerted her that something was wrong, she just knew. She walked into Izumi's room at the palace and found her old friend sitting at the end of her daughter's bed, a blue flame in her palm. In the fight that ensued Mai was able to hit Azula with three knives: one in the calf, one in the hip and the last in the side. Despite this Azula managed to slip away. The palace went on lockdown and the guards spent hours checking every room, no small feat giving the extensiveness of the palace grounds. In that time Mai held Izumi in her arms and never once let go despite offers from Zuko and Ursa.

In the early morning hours, huddled in a secure room, Mai issued an ultimatum to Zuko: put a bounty on Azula. Instead of using their own soldiers she suggested bounty hunters, enticed by a handsome reward.

Mai knew there would be hesitation from Zuko and especially Ursa, which she understood. It was difficult for her to come to terms that her father was the leader of the New Ozai Society and even harder to see him sent off to jail, despite not being a particularly warm and kind parent. She had hoped that seeing his men easily defeated he would realize how pointless his little revolution was, that he would gain back his common sense and return to her and her mother. Sadly things didn't turn that way and it would be quite a while before he would be released. It made home life difficult and it wasn't easy for Tom-Tom to understand why his father was in jail but she was so pleased that Zuko would take time out of his busy schedule to stop by and see how her family was and would spend time with Tom-Tom.

So while she was able to understand why this wasn't easy decision to make she did not want her family leaving in perpetual fear that Azula could be lurking in the shadows. She stressed the small possibility of Azula gaining back any sense of sanity at this point.

After hearing Zuko and Ursa debate the issue, both expressing reluctance and hope for Azula to 'come around', Mai slammed her fist down onto the table they sat around.

 _'What are you expecting,'_ she had said in a low voice, _'That she's going to revert back to your sweet little girl? Your sweet little sister? I think you forget that person never really existed. She may have been for a short period but that was a long time ago. You're fooling yourselves by thinking that.'_ She looked Zuko in the eye. _'Either you be proactive and take care of this or…I'll leave and I'll take Izumi with me.'_ Tears had welled up in her eyes as she said this. _'I won't leave you Zuko but I will take Izumi to where Azula won't find us. I won't stay here. Might as well paint a bulls eye on the outer walls.'_ She closed her eyes and clenched her fist. _'The thought of Azula kidnapping or hurt Izumi makes me sick and I can't go on living thinking that any second she—'_ She didn't finished for Zuko had taken her into her arms.

They never found Azula despite using the best trackers. An old friend June spent months on Azula's trail but every time she thought she got close Azula managed to slip away. She promised to stay on the trail and get them informed.

It took a while for life to get back to normal.

Now two years later Mai was sadden to find that that night was still having an affect on Izumi. She also wondered how many nights Izumi went to bed and had been huddled in fear when there was a storm.

She pressed kisses to her cheek. "Want me to stay with you?"

"But Daddy will be all alone."

Mai smiled. "Then you can come stay with us. Come here." Mai lifted her out of bed, Izumi wrapping one arm around her mother's neck while the other held onto her penguin.

"I'm sorry for waking you," said Izumi resting her head against her mother's shoulder.

"Shhhh," Mai kissed the top of Izumi's head, "It's okay sweetie." Stepping out into the corridor she bid ( ) goodnight before returning to her room. "Let me show you a trick." She walked over to the giant bay window looking out on the ocean and sat down, placing Izumi on her lap. "Watch."

Out in the distance the sky lit up following a lightning strike. Izumi jumped but Mai held her arms, taking one of her hands into hers.

"There's the strike. Now let's count." Mai started counting and when the thunder rumbled she stopped. Izumi was shaking a little and Mai wrapped her arms around her. "Nine seconds. Now let's wait for the next one. If the time between the lightning and the thunder is shorter that means the storm is getting closer and if its longer that means its moving away. Want to give it a try?" Izumi shook her head. "Okay."

It took a while for the next visible lightning strike. When it did come Mai and Izumi counted together until they heard the thunder. "Thirteen seconds. See? The storm's moving away."

Izumi looked up at her with a smile and Mai's heart melted. She often lacked self-confidence in her abilities as a parent although she never let Zuko know that although she suspected that he knew. He was more vocal about his anxieties then she was. So moments like these between Mai and Izumi were very emotional and important to her.

"Come on. Let's go to bed." She stood and turning to the bed saw Zuko awake and sitting up in bed, observing the two with a big smile. Mai smiled warmly and climbed onto bed. "Look who's awake."

"Hey Zoom," said Zuko gently taking Izumi into his arms.

"Daddy," said Izumi cupping his face and nuzzling his nose. "Sorry for waking you up."

"You didn't wake me up sweetie." Zuko fell backwards onto the bed, held Izumi above and brought her down to give her kisses. Izumi giggled and kicked her feet. Mai got under the covers and fixed the pillows so Izumi could lay between the two. Zuko placed Izumi on the bed and Mai tucked her in.

It didn't take look for Izumi to fall asleep, feeling safe and secure with her parents watching over her. Watching Izumi drift off to sleep Zuko gave his wife a big kiss.

"You're wonderful."

Mai hoped the darkness hid her blush but the grin she got from Zuko told her that he knew. "I try. At least a silver medal. Possibly bronze."

"You're gold to me."

Mai rolled her eyes and had to bite down to avoid vocalizing the chuckle that threatened to escape. "Such a way with words."

"Well I did write haikus once if you remember."

"Yeah you did," she leaned over and kissed his lips, "But I wouldn't recommend publishing them."

Zuko frowned but accepted his wife's kisses. He looked down at his sleeping daughter. "I'm surprised Izumi was bothered by the storm. It's quite far away."

"The storm isn't the only thing she's afraid of," Mai said softly.

Zuko was silent for a few moments before realization set in. "Oh." He reached down and gently stroked Izumi's cheek. "I was hoping that she would've forgotten about it by now. That it was all a bad dream." He looked up and saw in the dim light that tears were in his wife's eyes. He reached over and gently wiped away the tears that were running down her cheeks.

"She'll always haunt us. Won't she," said Mai in a soft voice. "If anything happened to her—"

Zuko took her into his arms, being careful as not to disturb Izumi. He pressed kisses to her cheek.

"She'll come back," whispered Mai, "I know she will."

"If she does it'll be the worst mistake of her life," said Zuko firmly. "Besides I think your knives scared her off."

Mai smiled and buried her face in his neck. "Should've got her in the ass. I think that would have sent a better message." The two chuckle, still monitoring the volume of their voices as not to awake their daughter.

They settled back down in the bed and continued to talk in whispers, mostly about their daughter.

"She's beautiful," said Mai, "She has your eyes."

"Hopefully she doesn't inherit my angst," said Zuko. "I hope she inherits your coolness. Not to mention your snark and sass."

Mai nuzzled his cheek. "Important things a young lady should have."

"You won't think that when she enters her rebellious teenage phrase."

"I'll deny I ever said it," she said with a grin, "You have no evidence that I said it."

"You know if Izumi was here with us I'd jump you."

Mai kissed his lips. "We'll see if your Mom can take watch over her tomorrow. Its been a while since we've had a afternoon session."

"Maybe the beach," asked Zuko.

"We're parents now. We can be that adventurous anymore."

"By whose decree," asked Zuko nuzzling her nose.

"You'll have to convince the guards to turn a blind eye for a while. Would be awkward for them to watch their bosses do each other on the beach for twenty minutes." Mai never forgot when Ty Lee learned of their activities many years ago. Her and Zuko had found a space in the library tucked away in the far corner. After that she noticed Ty Lee being a little timid around her and Zuko while other times giving the two sly smiles and remarking on their auras.

"I think the guards are fully aware of our activities but I pay them a lot so it shouldn't be a problem."

Izumi had begun to lightly snore.

It took a while for the two to join their daughter in slumber. By then the storm had moved off and the sound of rolling thunder ceased.


End file.
